


Tales from the Fright Zone

by TheWitchOfTheRock



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Contest, Halloween, Horror, Scary Stories, Spooky, spoopy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 14:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 6,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWitchOfTheRock/pseuds/TheWitchOfTheRock
Summary: It’s Halloween in the Fright Zone, and Entrapta  wants to hold a little contest to see  who has the scariest story!But just how much of these stories are true?





	1. Chapter 1

Lord Hordak’s sanctum was empty and quiet when Entrapta led her group of friends into the dim, glowing green light that emanated from the vitranes that held strange, unnatural looking humanoid figures floating in strange liquids. 

“Why did we have to come here again?” Catra whispered. She wasn’t scared of being in the sanctum when Hordak wasn’t around, of course not, and the lack of the bright overhead lights didn’t bother her. 

It was just a waste of time to her. Yeah. That’s all. 

“Because it’s only the best day of the whole year!” Entrapta said, giving a laugh that echoed through the empty, cavernous room. 

“And -uh- what day exactly is that?” Scorpia asked timidely. 

Entrapta gave her a strange, confused look, “It’s Halloween, of course.” She said, then grinned, “You do have Halloween in the Fright Zone, don’t you?”

Catra, Scorpia, Lonnie, and Kyle all exchanged glances before shaking their heads. 

“Oooh, you’re missing out!” Entrapta led them behind a set of virtines where she had set up a special area for them. A large fluffy blanket was set down on the floor, along with several large comfy looking pillows, which were fluffy and purple. 

Entrapta flopped down on one of the pillows, and opened a contained to reveal a tray of treats, candies in the shape of bats, cookies with little spiders on top, and cupcakes with candy skulls decorating the tops. 

“No offense.” Lonnie said slowly, “But why are Kyle and I here?”

Entrapta pressed a cupcake into her hand with her hair. “Because this is more fun with more people!” She explained. 

“But what’s this? Just sitting around in Lord Hordak’s sanctum eating treats? You do realize he’ll kill us if he finds us here, yes?”

“Oh Hordak won’t kill you.” Entrapta said in a flippant tone as she popped a candy into her mouth, “Just don’t break anything.” 

“Entrapta asked us to bring more people.” Scorpia said, sitting down very carefully, and as far away from the closest vitrine as she could manage, “that’s why I asked you to come.” 

“I’m actually ok with eating treats.” Kyle said as he sat down on the nearest pillow and took a cupcake.

“It’s not just treats!” Entrapta said grinning, “It’s about…GETTING SCARED!” 

The shadow of something that looked oddly like a zombie appeared on the wall. Kyle yelped, dropping his cupcake before he realized that it was just Entrapta, making shadows from the light of the vitrine on the wall. 

“Good try.” Catra purred as the other chuckled at Kyle. “But it’ll take more than that to scare me.”

“Ooooh, a challenge!” Entrapta said with a grin, “I love a challenge. But we’re going to do this right!” She pulled out an empty bottle, and set it on the floor. 

“Ok. This game I know. And I don’t want to play with the lot of you, no offense.” Lonnie said. 

“Oh, it’s not that game.” Entrapta said with a grin, “We spin the bottle, and whoever it points to has to tell a scary story.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m interested.” Lonnie said. She started walking away. 

“I have a prize for the scariest story.” Entrapta said. This caught Lonnie’s attention. 

“What’s the prize?”

“You know the fizzy drinks I have?” She asked. They all nodded, “I have a whole crate for the scariest story!”

“Interesting.” Catra said, “Ok. I’m in.” Catra said as she took a seat, “But how do we tell which story was scarier?”

“We discuss it afterwards while eating snacks!” Entrapta exclaimed. 

Lonnie sighed, and took a seat. She didn’t want to be a kill joy, and if she was going to be honest, she’d heard about the fizzy drinks, but never got to try them, and she was curious. 

“Are we ready then?” Entrapta asked. They all nodded. Entrapta set the bottle on the floor and gave it a spin. It swirled around and around until it finally pointed at Scorpia. 

“Oh. I’m first. I didn’t really think of a scary story. I mean, I didn’t know we’d be telling scary stories…” 

“That’s ok. I’m sure you’ve heard a good one at some point.” Entrapta said as she bit into another candy, “Just tell us your best.” 

Scorpia frowned as she thought about it. A moment later, she clacked one of her claws together. “Ok, I got it!” She said, “I have a story about -“

“Noo, you have to give it a proper title!!” Entrapta pleaded. Scorpia blinked, considered it for a moment.

“Alright.” She finally said, “This story is called-“


	2. The Nibbler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia’s story

There used to be bullying in the barracks. I mean, there still is, and it’s awful, someone should do something about it, but it was WAY worse back in the day. 

So, there was this one kid they said, who, his bullies would steal all his ration bars. They all worked separately, and they didn’t really talk to one another, and maybe if they had they wouldn’t have taken so much from him, but he started to starve. He got smaller, and smaller, and one day when they did morning roll call, he was just gone! They looked everywhere for him, but he was just gone. 

So, his bed was given to a new recruit. A young, strong, confidant girl who gave great hugs! But… she was kinda bullied too. She was bigger and clumsier than everyone else, so they picked on her a lot. She was also really skittish when she was little. I mean, not anymore. Not that I know who she was, it’s just something I heard…

But she scared easily. So they’d tell her all kinds of stories when the lights went out. They told her about skeletons that ran through the vents, about how Lord Hordak would have the biggest recruit cooked up for a meal for himself once a year, or how Shadow Weaver could look into your soul, and give you nightmares for a week!

But the one that scared her most was about that boy whose bed she had taken. They said that he actually hid under that bed, and he was mad at her becuase she had taken it while he was hiding. They said he was still living, all skin and bones, and sneaking about the fright zone looking for food. It wouldn’t have been remarkable, but this recruit was so tall, her toes always stuck out at the end of her bed. “He’s gonna eat your toes!” They told her on her first night. It was the least scary of the stories, she thought. 

Then when the lights were out, she felt someone - or something- tug at her toes. 

She woke up screaming, and everyone shushed her. She begged for the lights to be turned on, but they said no. They laughed at her when she started to cry, and eventually she cried herself to sleep.

The next day she told the supervising officer what happened, and she told her that the other kids were just teasing her. That one of them probably snuck out of bed, and pull on her toes to scare her, and she should just try to ignore it. She said, ‘If you react, they’ll keep doing it.”

So the recruit tried her best not to react. She tried to ignore the toe pinching that happened every night, no matter what. Every night she was woken up by a painful pinch to her toes. Some nights, there was even blood drawn, but she was determined not to let them bother her. She worked hard to prove herself, and eventually, she became a Force Captain, which meant she got her very own room. 

The day of her promotion was the best day of her life. Even though the pinching kept happening at night, she had proven herself to her bunkmates who were actually really happy for her. She moved all her stuff, and went to her new, very own, very private room. When she went to bed, she was looking forward to the best sleep she’d had since she came to the Fright Zone!

Then, a little past 2am, she felt a pinch on her toes. 

You’d think she’d have been scared, but she was actually angry! She was a force captain, she had worked really hard, and earned the respect of her peers, and now someone had snuck into her private room, and was pinching her toes! Well, she was a force captain now, and she could hand out punishments if she saw fit, and more importantly, there was now a lamp right next to her bed .

She reached over… flicked the switch. 

Crouched over her feet at the foot of her bed was a skeletal figure, dressed in rags which might have once been a cadet uniform. He clutched at her foot with skinny, boney fingers, his nails grown out and black with dirt. He was biting her toes, drawing blood and licking it up as he fed. The light caught his eyes - cold and emotionless. He looked at her, and in a voice that sounded so low and raspy, it was clear he hadn’t spoken to another person in years said…

“I like… how your toes taste.”


	3. Interlude 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude

Everyone was silent for a moment. 

“And then what happened?” Entrapta asked

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she woke up with this thing eating her toes. What happened after that?”

“Uhh… I guess she fainted?” Scorpia suggested. 

“Yeah..that was kinda a lame story, scorpia.” Catra purred. She looked to Entrapta, “Come on. Spin the bottle again, I want to go back to my room with my crate of drinks.” 

Entrapta grinned, and set the bottle to spinning around. Around and around it went, and when it finally slowed and stopped, the person it was closest to was Lonnie.” 

“Alright.”Lonnie said, sitting up straighter. She had had time to think about a story to tell, and she had a good one. “I have a story for you. And I call it….”


	4. Till Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lonnie’s story

Every cadet knows that if you want to be alone with someone, you head to the lower storage stations. There’s less cameras there, a better chance of finding a little place to hide, and so long as you’re not in the first storage station, nobody really enters there. 

Anyway. 

There were these two cadets Jodi and Noel, who had been dating for years. They were about done their training, and they were going to try to get posted together but of course you can never guarantee where you’ll be posted. They were worried that they’d be separated, so they spent all their time together making out in Storage Station 5. 

So this one day, they're there, half undressed and going at it, when they hear the door open. They don’t know who it is, but they do know that they don’t want to be caught like this. This is just the kind of rumor that will fly through the Fright Zone and follow a person for years. 

As we all know. 

Anyway. So they don’t want to get caught, so they dive into a nearby empty shipping container. It’s not very big, the two of them only manage to squeeze in together. They’re trying to be really quiet, not draw attention. They figure they can just wait until whoever is out there goes away, and then they can get out and go about their business. 

But then they heard the machinery. The sound of a forklift moving things around. In the moment that they’re wondering if they should get out or not, something pushes into their storage crate. They’re lifted up, and they start moving. They’re crying out for help, but nobody can hear them over the sound of the forklift. 

Finally, they’re dropped. They tilt, and the crate turns upside down, trapping them inside. Jodi hears a sickening crunch from above her as Noel falls. She shakes him, scared. He’s not moving, and she can feel blood. 

“Noel!” She calls out, “Are you ok?” 

He doesn’t move, but he responds, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. How are you?”

“I’m fine, but I think i’m stuck.”

“That’s ok. I’m here with you. We’ll be ok.” 

So they wait,. They listen to the outside world, waiting to hear someone come by. They don’t know where they are, but they know they have to get someone’s attention. Come nightfall, they’ll be found to be missing at roll call, and then people will start looking for them. 

The first day passed. At least, Jodi thought it was a day. She wasn’t sure becuase it was dark inside, and she couldn’t see anything, but she was pretty sure she had fallen asleep. She woke up shivering, and she could smell something awful. 

“Please don’t tell me they put us near the latines.” She muttered. 

“If they did, they at least they’ll be people around.” Noel said. “Don’t worry. I’m here with you.” 

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight to her. She had lost feeling in half her body from the way he was pinned atop her, but she was trying not to let that bother her too much. 

Later, she started getting really hungry and thirsty. “How long can we survive without water?” She asked, feeling dazed. 

“You can last three days. Don’t worry, we’ll be found before that.” 

“I hope they’ve found we’re missing.” 

“I’m sure they have. Don’t worry. I’m here with you.” 

It was another day before Jodi heard anyone. She heard nearby footsteps. She tried to call out, but her throat was so dry she could hardly make a noise. 

“Come on!” Noel said, “Just call out! They’ll hear you, and you’ll be fine!” He pleaded, “Come on. Just call out!” 

She managed it. A low, ragged cry, more of a sob from the crate. She heard a yelp from nearby, panicked talking, and then the sound of people running off. 

It wasn’t long after when help arrived. 

They turned the crate over, knocking Jodi on top of Noel. She heard another crunch, but before she could ask if he was ok, the lid of the container was pulled off. 

Laying beneath Jodi, Noel lay dead. His neck was twisted oddly, and dried blood all around his mouth, and onto Jodi. His grey eyes, and the foul smell that came from his body told the story. 

He had been killed when the box was dropped, his neck bending and snapping. At the impact of the landing.


	5. Interlude 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude 2

“Yeah, I don’t think that someone could break their neck that way.” Catra said, chuckling. 

Entrapta seemed to consider this, “I’m no expert, but it’s possible, I think. Unlikely though. Still! The concept of being stuck with a corpse for so long…” She gave a shudder, “Awful.”

“Yeah… yeah that one was better than mine.” Scorpia said sadly. 

“No way!” Kyle said, “I always have my toes stuck out from -“

“No no!” Entrapta said frantically, “We have to go through all the stories before we discuss them!” She spun the bottle again. It spun, and landed on Kyle. 

Kyle sat up straight, almost as though he had been called to attention. “OK!” He said. “I have a good one! And it involves bullying too! And it’s called ...”


	6. On the Menu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle’s story

Kenny was one of those recruits that had been raised in the fright zone from birth. He spent his whole life around his fellow cadets, and though he liked most of them well enough, there was one who was always nasty to him. A large Dog-like person named Doggo. 

Anyway, one day, Doggo went up to Kenny, and told him that. he was sorry for causing him so much grief, and he wanted to make it up to him. He passed him a bun and said he had stolen it from the kitchen, and he wanted to share it. Well, Kenny was really hungry on this day, so he ate it without much question, but when he was done Doggo started to laugh. 

“I can’t believe you ate it!” He said. 

“Why?” Kenny asked, scared all of a sudden. “What was it.” 

“It was just a bun.. WITH A SPIDER EGG SAC INSIDE!” 

Kenny went to the bathroom, and tried to throw up, but somehow he couldn’t manage it. He ran to the infermary, and fantically told the doctor what happened, and that she needed to help him throw up right away!

The doctor felt bad for kenny, but didn’t suggest that he throw up. She said that the biggest danger would be if the spiders were poisonious, and if they were, then forcing him to throw up would be a bad thing. 

She gave him a charcoal tablet instead, and told him to try not to worry, it was only protein after all. 

Well, kenny mostly blamed himself - he never should have trusted Doggo, so he tried to ignore it, and didn’t make a big deal out of it. He never got sick, thankfully, and he forgot about it for about a week. 

Then he started to get stomach pains. 

We went back to the doctor and told her he had stomach pains. She checked him over, said she didn’t think there was a problem, but she’d run a blood test just to be sure. She had him lay down in the infirmary for the rest of the day so he could rest. 

“Do you get bullied a lot?” She asked him. 

“Sometimes.” He admitted. 

“It could be stress.” She suggested, “A lot of times, a lot of stress can cause a bad stomach. Just try to relax more.”

The next day, though, his stomach pains were worse. The doctor gave him something that she said would calm him stomach, and told him to go off and try to get something to eat. 

“I’m not hungry.” He said, but she ordered him to go get something in his stomach. 

On the third day, he was woken up in the middle of the night, screaming in pain. His fellow cadets rushed him to the infirmary where the doctor had been working late. When they put him on the examination table, they could see something writhing under his skin. 

Panicked, and feeling guilty, the doctor took a scaple, and ordered everyone to stand back as she cut through the skin, to figure out what was writing underneath. 

All it took was one tiny cut. The smallest of incisions, and then they poured out. Thousands of tiny baby spiders that had eaten through his stomach crawled out of the whole in his belly, and started feeding on the flesh on the outside, because now… they had a taste.. .for HUMAN BLOOD!”


	7. Interlude 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude 3

“I liked that one!” Entrapta said, “Except for the part where spiders couldn’t possibly hatch in a human stomach. Or eat through a stomach. And if they did, then he’d have died before the doctor cut through him. And spiders don’t eat like that, and -“

“Ok ok..” Kyle muttered, “It was just a story.” 

“It was a good one though!” Entrapta insisted! “It was scary, despite it’s inaccuricies!” 

They heard something overhead. A skittering sound, a scrape, and a clank.”

“Uhh.. Entrapta.. what was that?” Scorpia asked. Entrapta perhaps her head up, and listened carefully. “I’m not sure.” She said. “I might have to do repairs tomorrow. No alarms are going off, so I think it can wait.” 

“Whatever.” Catra said, though she glanced up into the darkness above. She wasn’t scared, but random noises in Lord Hordak’s sanctum when they weren’t supposed to be there was probably not good. “Just spin it again. It’s you or me now, right?”

Entrapta frowned, her hair shrugging as she did, “I’m actually terrible at telling stories. I get all distracted, I cycle back, I get confused, I go off on tangents. That’s why I’m providing the prize!” 

“Well then..” Catra purred, “I guess it’s up to me then to give us something half decent.” She leaned back, arms crossed, “Alright then. I got just the one, and it’s called….”


	8. Between the Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra’s Story

So, a few years ago, the dormitories in section J were closing down. You all remember that, right? They were upgrading the electrical stuff there or something. 

Well, one kid there had a whole stash of contraband. He learned how to brew, right? He managed to open up a panel in the wall and made a tiny little brewery inside. I mean, the stuff he made wasn’t great, it was awful tasting, but it was strong, and he traded it for other stuff that he kept hidden in there. 

Anyway. 

So, they’re planning to move to a new dormitory in a week or so, and he’s got plans to slowly get all his stuff out of his little hole before that time. He just needed to find a new place to put it. He was sure he could find somewhere, and he had plenty of time so he wasn’t worried. But then, his officer suddenly said they were moving early. Apparently the work they had been working on in the dorm they were going to move to had been finished ahead of time, and they wanted to get work done of the old one as soon as possible. They were ordered to pack up all their stuff, and move out. 

Now this left our recruit - oh, his name? His name doesn’t matter. It does? Fine. Uh. Jack. Anyway, Jack Was starting to freak out. He couldn’t move his stuff with his officers in the room, and if he left it there, when the walls came down his stash, and his little brewery would be found. Questions would be asked, and he was sure that he’d get ratted out pretty fast. He didn’t have a place to hide his stuff, so he decided he’d sneak back when everyone was asleep, take what he felt he could hide under his mattress, and trash the rest. 

So that night, he crept back to his old dormitory. The door had a sign up saying under construction, but there was no need to lock it, so he was able to get in easily. He crept into the space between the walls, grabbed a few things he could carry, and shoved the rest into a bag to throw out. He was ready to through out most everything, but when he grabbed the most recent hooch he had been brewing, he stopped. 

This stuff was the shit. He had worked hard on it, he had researched the best way to get it to pack the best punch, and not taste awful in the process. He had taken nine months to brew, and it was just about ready. It seemed a waste to throw it all out, so he figured he’d have just a taste, just a sample to see how it was, to see if he should try it all again. 

It was seriously the best thing he ever tasted. Also the strongest. It was a lot stronger than he thought, and he kept drinking it, and eventually passed out behind the wall. 

He woke later, viciously hungover. He crawled his way to the panel in the wall, and pushed it aside, only to see that it had been boarded up. You see, what he didn’t know was that the room was in fact behind expanded, but it was being expanded by the opposite wall, so they just boarded up the old wall- the workers were being a little lazy, cutting corners. Probably how they managed to get ahead of their work. 

Anyway. 

So he’s between the walls, trapped. Hungover, and really wanting to vomit. He tries to knock on the wall, to get someone’s attention, but he can’t hear anything on the other side, and he’s wondering if maybe the wall had been soundproofed. 

He starts to panic. He vomits right there in the wall, and leans back, clutching his aching head, looking up into the ceiling, when he sees it. A pipe with a maintenance valve. 

This is how he’ll get out. 

He manages to climb up, he scratches himself bloody on the exposes screws behind the wall, and it’s a real tight squeeze, but he manages to reach the pipe. He opens the valve, but he’s immediatly taken aback by the smell. It’s not a water pipe, it’s a sewage pipe with a constant flow of …. well, sewage flowing through it. 

I assume I don’t have to be more descriptive… Do I? No? Didn’t think so. 

He really doesn’t want to do this, but he can’t see another choice. If he had another way out, or even if he was sure that he could bang on the wall and someone would hear him, he’d do that. He’d take the punishment at this point for whatever was coming for him, but he didn’t have that choice. 

So he slid into the sewage pipe. He had to go head first because there was no way he’d be able to change position once he was inside. It was disguesting, and it was very cramped. He could only wiggle through the sludge to move forward, and once he was in, he realize that he couldn’t get back out. But no matter. He’d go forward. He’d find another exit somewhere, or he’d be somewhere where someoen could hear him. 

So he starts going forward. He worms his way thorugh the flith, vomiting on himself again and again as he works his way forward, following the flow of the sewage. He feels he’s going a very long way, and he can’t see anything, but he’s sure he didn’t find another vent. 

Then, finally, he saw light ahead. He picks up speed, inching his way to the light, catching just a whiff of fresh air before the pipe hits a sudden, very steep slope. He couldn’t gain any purchase, the walls were so slick, there was no choice but to fall down. 

He slides down, faster than he thought he could possibly move in this place, but the light is coming closer. The air is fresher. He can hear running water. 

Then he’s stopped. 

His face slams into a thick grate, breaking his nose with the stop. The whole weight of his body is pressing his face into their grate. A sudden pain in his arm tells him that he broke something. He can’t move to see in the narrow pipe, but he can look outside. He can see the water pouring from many drainage pipes all around him, the roar of the water as it fell in a deafening roar of water, far, far away from the rest of the fright zone….


	9. Interlude 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude 4

“That was just disgusting.” Lonnie said, he nose wrinkled up, “I mean, why did it have to be a sewage pipe?”

“What, you don’t think being left to starve in sewage in a terrible, horrific fate?”

Entrapta. had a look of pure disguest on her face. “It was gross.” 

“Yeah. It wasn’t scary Catra, just disguesting.” Lonnie said. 

“Hey, whose to say that something that’s disguesting isn’t horrific?”

“Well, I know that I won’t be thinking of being trapped in poo when I’m trying to sleep tonight.” Kyle said, “I’ll be thinking of creatures eating my toes, and spiders crawling into my mouth.” 

“THANK YOU, Kyle.” Scorpia said, beaming, “I knew my story was scary.”

“Whatever.” Catra said, leaning back, “None of you know what true horror is.”

“Oh I agree.” A deep, angry voice said behind them, “But you’re about to get an idea.” 

They all froze, and turned to see Lord Hordak, looming over them, looking somehow more terrifying in the light of the vitrines. 

Everyone but Entrapta stood to attention. 

“Explain this.” He hissed. 

They all started talking over one another, then Entrapta stood up, “I thought I’d use this corner of the Sanctum for Halloween.” She said. The others looked at her in confusion. She couldn’t just tell Lord Hordak she had used his sanctum for a party.

Could she?

“Halloween?” He quirked a brow. 

“Yeah, It’s got a real cool creepy feeling to it when the lights are off. I thought it’d be a good place to tell scary stories.”

Lord Hordak growled, and turned, “Foolishness.” He snapped. “Why bother try to scare yourselves like that. It makes no sense - the world is horrifying enough. Especially….” He glanced back over his shoulder, then turned away again, walking away, “No. Nevermind. Back to your dorms, no.” 

“Especially?” Entrapta prompted.

Lord Hordak hesistated, then halfway turned to face them, “The Sanctum isn’t safe after dark.” He said. “It’s hardly safe at any time of day, but expecially after dark. “

“Ooooh.” Entrapta’s hair fizzed up. “Why! What happens after dark,”

“That is none of your concern.” 

“Come on Entrapta.” Scorpia said softly, “We should -“

“Ack! no! I need to know!” She was up properly now, elevated up on her hair. Hordak gave her a look, then sighed and turned. “If I tell you, you’ll all know better than to sneak into the sanctum. You’ll warn others to stay out. There’s no point to lose soldiers needlessly.”

They all nodded. Hordak frowned, “Very well.” He muttered, “It started with an….”


	10. Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Story

This happened when the Fright Zone was young. I had neither the resources, nor the soldiers I rule over today. I needed an army, and I had a lose collection of soldiers. So I did the logical thing; I decided to create my own army. 

But I didn’t need robots. I could make robots without much effort. No, I needed a soldier that could think, that could improvise, that could take initiative. So I took some of my own DNA, and altered it to attempt to make a soldier. I spliced in DNA from a variety of animals I found in this place so that my soldiers would have claws and wings, have strength and speed, and of course, intelligence that was at least comparable to my own. 

I spent months preparing the base DNA that would be used, and then, the day I was planning to set my plan in motion, the day I was planning to activate the DNA and starts it’s growth, there was an accident. 

One of the few soldiers that I had under my command, a young, clumsy soldier who didn’t take orders well took it upon himself to wander into my sanctum and bother me needless reports and idle pratter. He leaned against something he shouldn’t have, knocking over a pile of equipment. A metal rod fell on top of him, and drive through his neck.

Blood splattered everywhere. 

I of course protected my experiment, shielding it until his blood stopped spurting. 

Now… If I’m to take any blame for this, it’s here. I should have tossed the experiment then. It was contaminated, but I couldn’t see the months of work I put into this go to nothing. I looked over my specimen, determined it was fine, and activated it before I went to clean up the body that was now littering the floor. 

I don’t expect any of- most of you to appreciate what I was doing, or to understand the science of bioengineering I was working with, so I won’t go into details - I don’t wish to waste my breath. But cells take a long time to grow. For the first few months, there’s nothing to see, and after that the growth and development of the specimen is tedious- it’s best to ignore it, and just check on it every few months. I had equipment set up to detect vital signs of course, and brain waves, but I didn’t have to observe the specimen directly. 

For months, it was all working properly. Everything was as expected. However, when I started finally picking up signs of brain activity, it was strange. I was getting readings I didn’t expect. I was seeing dual-

Ahem.. in layman's terms, I was seeing a brain arguing with itself. 

This was just over eight months into its development, so I decided that it was perhaps time to give it a quick look over, to see if there was any abnormalities. Well, unexpected abnormalities. 

It had long legs, made for running and jumping, which was good. It’s arms were large and powerful, even for it’s small size. Wings hung off it’s back, suspended in the liquids of it’s vitrine. It’s body was fine. 

But it had another head growing out of its own. 

It’s pimary head was a combination of several animals, a Dog's nose and snout, two sets of eyes, one for hunting, based off hawk eyes, another for observation based more on my own. Ears like mine, a powerful jaw, and pointed teeth. But off the left side of it’s face was a human face, looking very much like the soldier who had died that day in my sanctum. It looked like it was trying to scream, but there was no noise coming from it. 

I had been careless. I should have checked on it eariler, I should have kept an eye on it. But no matter. I knew better now, and I knew better than to try to keep what was clearly a failure. I drained the vitrine, removed life support, and called a soldier in to clean up the mess while I finished my personal log detailing the end of the first experiment. 

This creature should have been dead. There logically wasn’t a possibility that it could survive off life support, and to this day I don’t know how it did. I suddenly heard a scream from my soldier. I went to see what had happened.

And the figure was hunched over him. It had torn open the soldiers chest, and pulled out it’s still beating heart, devouring it while the soldier watched with his last few seconds of life. It looked up at me with all four eyes, blood dripping down it’s muzzle, the human face still silently screaming in horror. 

I suppose it’s mouth wasn’t attached to any vocal organs. 

Of course, I gave chase, but it was smaller than I was able to get into cracks and holes in the wall that I could not, and faster than I had given it credit for being. It escaped into the walls of the Sanctum. 

But no matter. It couldn’t possibly live for long like that, and even if it could, it would be caught eventually. 

The weeks passed, and whenever a soldier went into my sanctum unattended, especially at night, they were found lying on the floor, their ribs pulled open, their hearts missing, and despite our best efforts, every attempt to catch this thing failed. The best thing I could do was simply shut the Sanctum down, and hope that none of my soldiers in the future would be idiotic enough to come in alone.


	11. Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End

“But clearly, I was wrong about the mental abilities of my future soldiers.” He snapped, glaring at them.

“Wait, are all these things in the vitrines creatures like that?” Scorpia looked around at them, “But… you have soldiers now, why-“

“I said I need soldiers that are competent, and intelligent. This gather clearly proves to me that if anything, I have to redouble my efforts.”

Surprisingly, Catra started to laugh. Lord Hordak rose a brow at her, his face fixed. 

“That was a decent one, Lord Hordak.” She finally said, “I didn’t take you for one who would try to tell a spooky story for Halloween.”

“You think i’m just telling some stupid story.”

“Oh come on.” Catra said. Her flippant tone to the others was more terrifying than the stories they had heard, “You can expect us to believe a-“

There was a noise from nearby. A growl. Everyone turned, to look. 

There was the shadow of a figure on the wall. It crept slowly towards them. It had wings on it’s back that spread as they heard a strange, gutteral noise somewhere between a shriek and a growl. They froze as they observed it’s profile - a head with a dog-like snout. 

When it turned it’s head, there was a new profile. A human face, screaming. 

A series of screams rang through the sanctum. Hordak’s ears flicked down protectively - some of his soldiers were decidedly shrill, and they all took off, running for their lives out of the sanctum. 

All, of course, save for Entrapta. 

“You know.” She said slowly, “You could have said you wanted to join in when I asked if I could use the sanctum for this.”

“I could have.” He admitted, “But this was better. It might keep soldiers from coming into my sanctum uninvited so often. 

Entrapta put her hair around to the other side of a nearby vitrine, and pulled imp out of hiding. The little thing had a broken wolf mask on it’s lower face, and was holding an old doll of Entrapta’s up to it’s head, squeezing it to make it’s mouth look like it was moving. 

“I was looking for this.” 

“Yes. I think Imp has been hoarding things again.” 

Entrapta gave Imp a pat on the head, and set him down, “Oh, you can keep it.” She said, “your half of the prize.”

Hordak lifted a brow, “Prize?”

Using her hair, she pulled a crate out from the shadows and pushed it into Hordak’s hands. He looked at the bottles of multicolored drinks curiously. 

“A crate of my favourite drinks.” She said smiling. She got up, gathered up her things, and started to leave the sanctum. 

But then she stopped, turned around, and said with a smile, “But… you know that that’s not how cloning would work -“

“Of course I know that.” He snapped, his ears flicking down, “I had limited time to think of something!” 

Entrapta giggled. “Happy Halloween, Hordak.” She said as she left the sanctum.


End file.
